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Hi everybody, Today the Netherlands has a day of national mourning. The plane crash from Malaysian Airways took nearly 300 lifes. I can only say: well done prime minister Rutte and minister of Foreign Affairs Timmermans! All this talk about going to war leads nowhere. Of course we are angry. We are hurt and we grieve. But the first thing should be to get the deceased home as soon as possible. The train is in Charkov now and part of the deceased will be in the Netherlands this afternoon. So that their families can bury them and say goodbye to them. Rutte and Timmermans understood that very well and did and do everything to let this happen. Besides war never led to anything good. Of course we should do everything possible to get those who did this before a judge, so that they can be punished. But first of all the deceased should be in the Netherlands. After that we and other countries can do what is necessary. And let’s keep talking. I still think that is the best solution to problems always!

Here is part of the speech the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Timmermans held on monday night at the United Nations. An emotional speech. I have the deepest respect for him. The way he spoke his words! Chapeau!

We are here to discuss a tragedy: the downing of a commercial airliner and the death of 298 innocent people. Men, women and a staggering number of children lost their lives, on their way to their holiday destinations, their homes, loved ones, their jobs or international obligations. Since Thursday I’ve been thinking how horrible the final moments of their lives must have been, when they knew the plane was going down. Did they lock hands with their loved ones, did they hold their children close to their hearts, did they look each other in the eyes, one final time, in a wordless goodbye? We will never know.

The demise of almost 200 of my compatriots has left a hole in the heart of the Dutch nation, has caused grief, anger and despair. Grief for the loss of loved ones, anger for the outrage of the downing of a civilian airplane and despair after witnessing the excruciatingly slow process of securing the crash site and recovering the remains of the victims.